Platte County muscled up as the only Class 1 team in the Gold Division of Belton’s Pirate Invitational on Saturday at Belton High School. The orange-and-black Pirates came in fourth overall behind only powerhouses Rockhurst and Blue Springs South and Park Hill.
Platte County senior Palmer Keith looks up for his time after an event in a home quad Tuesday at Platte County Community Center North.
A big portion of Platte County’s 210 team points came from three combined victories for senior stars Deacon Gutshall and Palmer Keith. The Pirates also placed second to Rockhurst in the 200-yard medley relay while coming in third in the 400-yard freestyle relay while setting season-bests in both events.
Rockhurst, which totaled 564 1/2 points, won both of those races with Blue Springs South (400 1/2 points) took runnerup honors in the 400 yard freestyle.
Guthsall made a serious push at taking the 100 butterfly school record in his first victory, coming in at 53.80 and about a half second off of Keith’s current make. In the 100 backstroke, Gutshall held off Raymore-Peculiar’s Brenen Birdsell to take the victory.
Gutshall finished in 54.80 to finish first by less than half a second and notably took his two wins in non-freestyle events. He owns the school record in the 500 and 200 freestyle and finished top 16 in the Class 1 MSHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships in both events as a junior.
Platte County junior Jack Hokanson swims the 100-yard backstroke during a home quad Tuesday at Platte County Community Center North.
Keith looked strong in his top two events.
In the 200 individual medley, Keith finished in 2:01.93 — about 6 seconds off his school record — but came in nearly 3 full seconds in front of Carthage’s William Wright. Keith’s other individual race resulted in a runnerup finish at 1:02.85 with Rockhurst’s Andy Baklanov setting a meet record at 59.63.
All four races for Gutshall and Keith resulted in state cut times.
Both seniors were part of loaded-up 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays with each swimmer limited to two of those if competing in two individual events. Gutshall, Keith, junior Jack Hokanson and freshman Beau Jonkman went 1:47.24 in the 200 medley and lowered season best by more than 2 seconds. Gutshall, Keith, Hokanson and senior Cobie Parkin chopped more than 11 off the previous fastest time this fall in the 400 medley and ended up third at 3:31.94.
With Gutshall not in the 500 freestyle despite having the top time in Class 1 at this point in the season, Hokanson used the opportunity to place fourth in the Gold Division at 5:24.06 — just off his career-best set as a sophomore at state as part of his individual debut in the Class 1 championships.
Platte County Quad
Hokanson won the 500 freestyle (5:30.99) and 200 IM (2:13.85) in Tuesday’s quad with Park Hill, St. Pius X and Union Star on Tuesday at Platte County Community Center North. The 200 IM just missed his PR set last year and gave him a state consideration cut in the event for a second straight season.
Platte County junior Finn Smith swims the 100-yard breaststroke during a home quad Tuesday at Platte County Community Center North.
Last year, Hokanson chose the 100 butterfly and 500 freestyle for his state events and could have more choices this year as he continues his development since a breakout freshman campaign.
Platte County’s other individual wins came from Gutshall (100 butterfly and 200 freestyle) and Keith (50 freestyle). With a DQ in the quad’s final event, the Pirates only won one of the three relays — the 200 freestyle with Gutshall, Keith, Parkin and Jonkman (1:40.19).
In the 100 butterfly, Gutshall’s 55.26 edged Keith’s 56.13 in a 1-2 finish for Platte County. Gutshall’s day started with a dominant effort in the 200 freestyle, posting his first time in the event this season at 1:47.75, which unofficially ranks No. 6 in Class 1 so far this season.
Keith posted a state cut in the 50 freestyle at 23.35 to impressively win by almost a second in the shortest event.
Jonkman came in third behind Hokanson in the 500 freestyle at 6:04.82 and behind Guthsall in the 200 freestyle at 2:09.79, while junior Finn Smith added a third-place showing in the 100 breaststroke at 1:21.76.
